Love, friendship, and decadent chocolate candy are all things most people think of when they think about Valentine’s Day.
But, if you’re a teacher, Valentine’s Card Writing is within that mix of items.
For me, I immediately think, “Let the Valentine Writing begin!”
But first things first. If we want young students to actually write a Valentine, not just sign their name to a small card, we must first lay the foundation.
I do that by teaching a Valentine-themed five-day lesson series on friendly letter writing with direct instruction.
Valentine Letter Writing Lessons
Day 1- Structure of a Letter
During the first day of the Valentine Letter Writing Lesson, students learn each part of a friendly letter and place it on paper.
- heading
- greeting
- body
- closing
- signature
Through direct teaching and the help of model text, students can identify the structure of a friendly letter with ease.
Day 2- The Writing Outline
The next day, we introduce writing an outline with brief words or phrases that will guide the student’s rough draft.
Teacher Tip: Be sure to include a sample model or mentor text. The example text allows students to grasp the concepts quickly by providing a reference.
Day 3- Valentine Rough Draft
Now, the rough draft day is my favorite. Students take their bare bones of writing and build upon it until it’s full of the student’s voice and personality.
My favorite part of every day is reading student writing. My teacher-heart is so full when reading the elaborations, vivid details, and figurative language as students expand on their writing.
Day 4- Revise & Edit
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that the day of revising and editing must be a partner activity. I provide the Revise & Edit Posters to reference, but most importantly, I tell my students exactly how I will be grading the writing.
Yes, cue the writing rubric. The discussions around the writing and the rubric are priceless. That’s why day four is a partner activity. There’s so much to gain from the valuable collaborative talk during this time.
“Collaboration allows us to know more than we are capable of knowing by ourselves.”
-Paul Solarz
Day 5- Publish & Deliver
Publishing day is always the most exciting day for the kiddos. After all, they’ve spent all week creating their masterpiece, and now it’s time to deliver the Valentine. (It’s so exciting!)
I’ve dedicated a small corner as our Mail Station within my classroom. It includes envelopes, stamps, writing reference posters, and defiantly a mailbox. You can grab the FREE copy of the Post Office Kit here.
If you want to take Friendly Letter Writing to the next level, I have a blog post here and here that will give you more details.
Valentine Card Writing
Now that the students are successful letter and card writers, they can independently work on writing a Valentine card for all their friends and family.
My students are obsessed with making heart-shaped cutouts as Valentine Cards. The only problem, they are not at all successful. Most of their shapes end up being half of a heart.
Cutting the perfect heart requires a lot of skill, which my littles do NOT have.
So I make it a little easier on them by providing the shape. But there’s a catch. The backside has lines for writing. Yup, I sneak in more writing anytime I can.
The good thing is, the students love making and writing Valentine’s so much they can’t get enough of it. (Now, that’s a true win-win!)
I’ve also found the more options you give students, the more engaged they are. So I created 32 different cards to keep their interest going.
Valentine Card Writing Bonus Option
I keep extra writing paper handy for students who are genuinely on FIRE with their writing. The February Themed Paper with a small heart does the trick. The writing stationery allows for more elaboration and suits the need nicely.
If you want to capitalize on the season of love and sneak in more writing, the Valentine Letter Writing BUNDLE will set you up with everything mentioned in this post.
Are your students struggling and making very little progress in writing? Or maybe they’re unmotivated or a reluctant writer? If so, I’ve got your back.
Yes…I…Do!
Let me share my secret sauce when it comes to teaching writing to elementary students.
It’s the Sentences, Paragraphs, and Essays: OH, MY! E-book.
Click this link to learn more about how the E-Book can transform your students’ chicken scratch, hap-hazard writing into strong, effective, glorious writing!
Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Writing,
-Melissa
